Preached at Markham Baptist Church, September 15, 2002

To know Him and make Him known. So goes the vision of our church. This isn't simply a neat-sounding phrase - it is the heart and desire of the leadership of Markham Baptist that we know Him and make Him known. And we hope that it will be your heart's desire too, and we are going to ask you commit yourself to this vision on October 6th - after you've heard it outlined and you've considered it we will be asking you on that Sunday to commit yourself to it.

You will notice that God is at the centre of our vision. Scripture tells us that in all things we are to glorify God - whatever we do we are to do it for His glory (I Corinthians 10:31). He is the reason we have put His vision in place. It is to ensure that His name is known, that His character is elevated and the we follow in His way. It is not to glorify ourselves, or our staff. It is for God's glory that we seek to keep this vision and implement it. “To know Him and make Him known."

We are through play-acting, we don't want to pretend to be the church - we want to actually be the church, Christ's representatives, influencing the world with the good news of new life through faith in Him.

Last week I outlined how we want to be the church that prays. That means that we want to be the church that truly dares in our prayers for that which we could not possibly do on our own. And it means that we change the barometer for gauging the health of our congregation from the budget and Sunday morning attendance and onto our community prayer meeting. You need to know that our average attendance at our congregational prayer time last Sunday night increased by 100 percent! We are on our way! My friends, that is where God's power is unleashed as His people gather together to pray with one voice. Our next Let's Pray is next Sunday night.

And so prayer is the foundation of all that we do. It undergirds the four pillars of our church. Now these four pillars are given to us through God's word in Acts 2:42-47.

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42) (NIV)

The first of these pillars we have called equipping. "They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching." What is Markham Baptist's vision for equipping the people of God?

Well, like the early church we see ourselves as making the Word of God the centre of our proclamation and 5:13 PM 15/09/2002teaching. If prayer was the foundation of the early church, the Word of God was the frame. If prayer was the legs of the body of the church, then the word of God was the backbone. We commit ourselves to teaching and proclaiming the Word of God.

Underline that word in Acts 2:42 "devoted". This was not something that the early Christians casually took up and then dropped just as casually. It was a total commitment, a passionate quest. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.

And you will notice that once these converts were baptized and welcomed into the church they did not believe they had arrived. Here's a prayer for you to offer for our church "O Lord keep us from complacency. Keep us from thinking that we have achieved all that You want us to achieve or have attempted all that You have for us. Keep us from thinking that we have You all figured and out and know all there is to know. Instead keep us hungering, keep us thirsting for more of You and a deeper relationship with You." That would be a wonderful prayer for you to you offer for our church. That we be a people who grow - not necessarily numerically but that we grow in our faith, in our trust in Jesus Christ, in our love for God and for one another, and that through that we make Him known. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.

And this isn't some kind of dull duty that we feel that God has called us to. "O brother, we have to study the word of God, we have to teach the Bible. Oh hum. Well let's open it again and see what it says." No, no, we are dealing with the word of God that is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). This not some drudgery that we are called to teach, or some boring document that we are called to study. No – it is the very word of God, through which He expresses His deep love for you, reveals His will to you and directs you in the path you are to take. (Psalm 119:105).

Let's be more specific. How is the Word of God described and why do we seek to make it the centre of our proclamation and instruction? 2 Timothy 3:10-17 directs us.

Paul is writing to a young pastor Timothy, and is warning him about false teachers who have the form of godliness but on the inside they deny its reality. In a word, they were playing church. On the outside they have a veneer of godliness but on the inside well they are worldly, selfish, unforgiving, rash, conceited and lovers of pleasure. They were all show. And then Paul says in verse 10, "you however know all about my teaching and my way of life." (NIV) ("you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness." (NRSV) ) You know how my teaching and life agree. How one confirms - rather than contradicts the other. And you know,” he continues, "my persecutions and suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them." You know that I didn't give up on the truth in the face of persecution. I continued on.”

Then he states that persecution is inevitable for those who truly live the truth - verse 12 and 13:

"Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived."

And in verse 14 he brings the focus back to Timothy, back to us, saying, "But as for you," (that is you be different from these false teachers who are going from bad to worse) “continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. And how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work."

So, how is the Word of God described here and why do we seek to make it the centre of our proclamation and instruction? Well, the word of God is described as "inspired by God." I like the NIV translation better - it reads "all Scripture is God-breathed." It is infused with the very life of God, the very character of God, it is the very word of God. That means that His word is authoritative. The Bible is not a book with which we can negotiate. It is sovereign.

A lot of Christians approach the Word of God today as if it were a buffet table. When I go to a dinner buffet, I like to walk around it once to scout it out. Then I go back and pick and choose what I like. (No three-bean salad for me thanks. I don't like the texture or the taste of it.) Tragically, many of us scout out the Word of God the same way we do a dinner buffet, when we come across three-bean salad, something we don't like we say well that can't be right. And we look for tasty morsels and pick and choose what we want. Then we ignore the rest or dismiss the rest as though it didn't matter.

I'm not saying that we are shouldn't use our minds when we read the Bible. No, we are to bring our minds along with us when we read God's word. We need to understand the context, the times in which it was written, and the people God used to write it and to whom it is addressed. But let us not doubt any truth of this word. Let's not dismiss part of this book as "non-essential and ignorant of the truth that we believe we have."

Underline that word in your Bibles - that word ALL. All Scripture is God-breathed. All of it is infused with His character and like Him it is without error. Just as there is no flaw in God's character so there is no flaw in God's Word. Do you believe that God has no flaws in His character? Then you must, logically believe that there are no flaws in His Word.

So God has called us to read His Word.

So Paul gives us a description of the Word of God now as he goes on to tell us why we need to read it. I've jumped ahead and given you one reason - to grow in our knowledge and relationship with God.

But the verse continues and says that the word of God is useful for teaching. What does it teach us?

It teaches us about salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul makes that plain in verse 15. But even more than this it teaches us the truth about God, about the world and ourselves.

The context of this passage, remember? It is Paul warning Timothy about false teachers whose lives deny all that they teach. That is why we need to devote ourselves as a church to the teaching and studying of the Word of God. That we understand who God is and what he has called us to be. That we grow up and be mature in our faith.

So we place the word of God at the centre of our proclamation and teaching. Oh my friends, some of us are stuck in our childhood perceptions of the Bible.

Some of us still think that:

David was a Hebrew King who fought with the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.

Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread without any ingredients.

Afterwards, Moses went upon Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Amendments.

Unfortunately Moses died before he ever reached Canada.

Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the Battle of Geritol.

The Greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.

Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark.

Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night.

Oh, we need to read this Word given to us, because it teaches us - not in some simple elemental way but in a profound deep way.

You know that you have a soul, that essential you, which will last forever. You know that you more than your physical appetites, what people see on the outside. You know that, right? Well, do you know that your soul needs feeding? And it is fed by the Word of God. So Jeremiah will say, "When your words came I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight." (Jeremiah 15:16).

And the Psalmist writes, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103).

And again, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul." (Psalm 19:7)

And Jesus quoting the book of Deuteronomy said, "One does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4).

This Word is soul-satisfying. It teaches us about ourselves and God.

Not only does it teach, it reproves. That is, it is a means through which God is able to make you and me more like his Son. To be sure, the Word of God is a great encouragement but it also admonishes, it exposes our selfishness, or prejudices, our spiritual weaknesses.

So we read in Hebrews 4:12 that the:

"word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

We need that, don't we? We don't want to be like those false teachers who were playing church - their confessions did not match their lifestyles. We want to be the church and so we need the Word of God to reprove us when we are not what He has called us to be.

But the word of God does not reprove only. That would be devastating. Who would want to read a book that constantly made one feel lousy and did not offer any hope? The word of God corrects it seeks to set that which is wrong right.

And then the word of God trains us for righteousness. They've started football training over here across the road. I see them there running the plays, learning the fine points of the game, being trained in their ability to play football. The word of God trains us for righteousness, that is, for a right-standing before God - to be more like His Son. We learn what is pure and just and holy and are encouraged to follow in that way.

All of that - teaching, rebuking correcting, and training in righteousness is for one result - that we be proficient, equipped for every good work." The NIV is easier to understand and reads that we would be "thoroughly equipped for every good work."

And so, while teaching, and rebuking and correcting and training in righteousness would be reasons alone to read His Word, they all lead to one reason - that we be thoroughly equipped for every good work. We don't simply want to be large sponges that constantly take in the word of God growing fat in our understanding but never obeying His Word, never exercising the spiritual muscles He has given us. No, our purpose is that we be “thoroughly equipped for every good work."

So our vision - to know Him and make Him known. We want to be an equipping church. How do we see this happening? Well, first we want to be intentional about our teaching. We have set some goals for our Christian Education in this church - you will notice them in the bulletin this week. It is our goal that every child after progressing through our Christian Education program will be able to know the saving truth about Jesus Christ, know the books of the Bible and have a knowledge of their content. That our children know about prayer and how to pray. That our children know about the church and how God has called each one to serve through and in the church.

We want to be intentional in our equipping of adults. So it is our vision that we offer to you during the next number of years a series of modules through which a person would progress. And a person would progress through these, maybe 5 to 7 modules in total. After you progressed through these, you would be able to say these seven statements. (I've used the word understand - perhaps the not the best word, for I'm not saying after you're gone through these courses that will have arrived at full maturity in the person of Christ. But I do want to convey that you have made some significant steps forward.)

1. I now understand the way to God is through Christ.

2. I now understand what God expects of me.

A.In terms of love toward him and others.

B. In terms of the use of my time, money and resources.

3. I now have a working knowledge of the word of God and am equipped for further study.

4. I now have a grasp of the spiritual disciplines: to pray, to fast, to worship, to be mentored, and be a mentor.

5. I know how to share my faith with my friends and neighbours.

6. I now see the vision for God's worldwide mission and see my part in it.

7. I now understand that God has gifted me and equipped me to serve Him through His church and I can see where I fit in.

There is a lot of work yet to see this vision become a reality. The curriculum needs to be chosen. Small groups need to be further established and strengthened. Right now we offer several quality small groups, but we would like to add to their number and see everyone on of you in a small group where you can learn the Word of God and thoroughly equipped for good work.

That is the primary vision for the equipping of God's people here at Markham Baptist. To find out more of the details I would encourage you to read the vision document and begin to see with us how God has called us to study God's word that we truly may be the Church for His glory.